“Peter said to Him, ‘Never shall You wash my feet!’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.’” (John 13:8)

There can be no fellowship with the Lord for human beings, unless we have been washed. We are sinful: we have each inherited a sin nature, and we have each personally chosen to sin. Our sin separates us from fellowship with a holy God. This is why Jesus told Peter that if He does not wash us, then we can have no part with Him.

But thankfully, that is exactly why Jesus came: to die on the cross and pay for our sins, so that cleansing from our sins would be available to us. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) If we will confess our sins and bring them to the Lord, we CAN be washed; and as a result we CAN have fellowship with Him.

But we mustn’t take this for granted. There is indeed confident access to God for a person who has been washed from his sins by Jesus Christ. This is an amazing privilege which is available to us. But we must remember that this was ONLY possible because of Christ’s infinitely costly sacrifice on the cross; it was the only way that fellowship with God could be made available to us. There is NO such access to God for one who has not been cleansed by the blood of Christ. We need to remember Jesus’ words to Peter: “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me”!